A documentary film carries the title: 29 Billion Reasons to Lie About Cholesterol.
29 billion what? Patients? Dollars? Prescriptions?
Did you ever wonder what was the big hype about cholesterol?
Or did you simply accept that high cholesterol is bad, and not even think about it? Kind of like “cover yourself with sunscreen so you don’t get skin cancer” or “the sun rises in the East and sets in the West” - something that is so much a part of our mindset and everyday life that we don’t even notice it, much less question it.
Before the 1950s, cholesterol was not even part of medical thinking, except on the part of researchers.
The idea that cholesterol causes coronary heart disease started in the
early 1900’s when extremely high amounts of dietary (powdered and
oxidized) cholesterol were fed to rabbits. Their blood cholesterol rose
twenty-fold and a soft plaque like substance formed on the coronary arteries.
Cholesterol levels returned to normal and the plaque disappeared when
the feeding was stopped.
In the late 1950’s, Ancel Keys proposed that the more saturated fat you ate, the higher your cholesterol; the higher the cholesterol (in rabbits), the more plaque and presumed cardio-vascular disease. This gave birth to the “lipid theory” that dietary cholesterol is downright dangerous because it directly causes atherosclerosis.
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) website has an interesting history of the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs - the statins.[1] By 1979 Merck scientists had isolated lovastatin, a compound which inhibits the synthesis of cholesterol.
However, a clinical study using clofibrate which binds cholesterol in the intestine resulted in significantly higher mortality in the drug-treated group. Not surprisingly, the pharmaceutical interest in cholesterol-lowering therapy evaporated.
In 1984, the Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial, funded in part by Proctor and Gamble (manufacturer of margarine and saturated vegetable oils) placed all subjects on a low cholesterol, low saturated fat diet (through the use of margarine, egg replacers, processed cheese and baked goods made with vegetable shortenings). One group took a cholesterol lowering drug, one group a placebo. Results of the study purportedly showed that the group taking the cholesterol lowering drugs had a lower incidence of death from heart disease. Rarely mentioned was the conclusion that the group which took cholesterol lowering drugs also had an increase in deaths from cancer, stroke, violence and suicide.
And when the data was re-analyzed by the lipid group from the University of Maryland, no difference was found between the two groups in the incidence of coronary heart disease.
In 1984 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published results from the Lipid Research Clinic Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (LRCCPPT) which used cholestyramine and dietary changes. The study showed a decrease in deaths from coronary artery disease. Suddenly there was renewed interest in the media.
In 1984, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) convened the Cholesterol Consensus Conference, ostensibly to bring together the proponents of the cholesterol theory with the dissidents. It appears that the report was written prior to the actual convening of the conference[2], simply leaving a few spaces to plug in the numbers to be considered as “elevated” cholesterol.
Is it a coincidence that Merck’s re-application for new drug status was sent to the FDA in 1984?
In November 1986 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a series on the lipid clinical trials.[3]
In 1988, at a lecture given before the American Heart Association, DeWitt S Goodman MD spoke about the many efforts which were being made to educate both patients and physicians in the benefits of treating high cholesterol levels (defined at that time as being over 240).
A physician’s packet was prepared by the Physicians Cholesterol Education Program in 1987. Mary Enig writes that the American Pharmaceutical Association had representatives on the coordinating committee.[4]
Is it also a coincidence that Merck’s lovastatin (Lipitor®) was approved by the FDA in 1987, one of the shortest times on record for approval of a new drug?
Probably the most painstaking analyses of the Keyes data was published in 2001 in a book entitled The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov.[5]
“People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers.”
And the battle rages on... and on... and on.
The Lancet just published an article with the title “Statins for all by the age of 50 years?”
How do we deal with the issue at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine?
We work with diet - healthy real food, meats, fish, fruits and vegetables - healthy fats – fish oils, coconut oils, olive oil, butter - healthy drinks - no artificial sweeteners (except Stevia, which so far does not seem to have a down-side).
We work with nutrition - adequate vitamins and minerals, through diet or supplementation, to give the engine sufficient gas to allow it to run.
We work with exercise - enough fresh air and moving around to get the blood flowing, giving the engine sufficient lubrication to allow the parts to move freely.
We work with detoxification - getting rid of chemicals, allergens, heavy metals and toxic emotions, to allow the body to function normally, without being weight down by things which it no longer needs, cleaning up the carburetors.
We work with attitude - we tend to get back what we project, so let’s make sure we are projecting love and healing. That would be the basis of the golden rule. If our tailpipe puts out smoke and bad smells, these will almost certainly come back at us through our open windows. Structure is crucial to our function, and cholesterol is crucial to our structure.
As with so many other things, balance is essential to our existence.
We do not believe that anyone ever died of a deficiency of lovastatin. We do believe that diet and exercise are the best treatment to prevent heart disease and promote a healthy life.
The choice is ours.
[1] http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/…ucm082054.htm [2] http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america#national [3] S M Grundy, “Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease: A New Era,” JAMA, Nov 28, 1986, 256:(20):2849-2858 [4] http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america#national
In 1988, at a lecture given before the American Heart Association, DeWitt S Goodman MD spoke about the many efforts which were being made to educate both patients and physicians in the benefits of treating high cholesterol levels (defined at that time as being over 240).
A physician’s packet was prepared by the Physicians Cholesterol Education Program in 1987. Mary Enig writes that the American Pharmaceutical Association had representatives on the coordinating committee.[4]
Is it also a coincidence that Merck’s lovastatin (Lipitor®) was approved by the FDA in 1987, one of the shortest times on record for approval of a new drug?
Probably the most painstaking analyses of the Keyes data was published in 2001 in a book entitled The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov.[5]
“People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers.”
And the battle rages on... and on... and on.
The Lancet just published an article with the title “Statins for all by the age of 50 years?”
How do we deal with the issue at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine?
We work with diet - healthy real food, meats, fish, fruits and vegetables - healthy fats – fish oils, coconut oils, olive oil, butter - healthy drinks - no artificial sweeteners (except Stevia, which so far does not seem to have a down-side).
We work with nutrition - adequate vitamins and minerals, through diet or supplementation, to give the engine sufficient gas to allow it to run.
We work with exercise - enough fresh air and moving around to get the blood flowing, giving the engine sufficient lubrication to allow the parts to move freely.
We work with detoxification - getting rid of chemicals, allergens, heavy metals and toxic emotions, to allow the body to function normally, without being weight down by things which it no longer needs, cleaning up the carburetors.
We work with attitude - we tend to get back what we project, so let’s make sure we are projecting love and healing. That would be the basis of the golden rule. If our tailpipe puts out smoke and bad smells, these will almost certainly come back at us through our open windows. Structure is crucial to our function, and cholesterol is crucial to our structure.
As with so many other things, balance is essential to our existence.
We do not believe that anyone ever died of a deficiency of lovastatin. We do believe that diet and exercise are the best treatment to prevent heart disease and promote a healthy life.
The choice is ours.
[1] http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/…ucm082054.htm [2] http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america#national [3] S M Grundy, “Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease: A New Era,” JAMA, Nov 28, 1986, 256:(20):2849-2858
Is it also a coincidence that Merck’s lovastatin (Lipitor®) was approved by the FDA in 1987, one of the shortest times on record for approval of a new drug?
Probably the most painstaking analyses of the Keyes data was published in 2001 in a book entitled The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov.[5]
“People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers.”
And the battle rages on... and on... and on.
The Lancet just published an article with the title “Statins for all by the age of 50 years?”
How do we deal with the issue at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine?
We work with diet - healthy real food, meats, fish, fruits and vegetables - healthy fats – fish oils, coconut oils, olive oil, butter - healthy drinks - no artificial sweeteners (except Stevia, which so far does not seem to have a down-side).
We work with nutrition - adequate vitamins and minerals, through diet or supplementation, to give the engine sufficient gas to allow it to run.
We work with exercise - enough fresh air and moving around to get the blood flowing, giving the engine sufficient lubrication to allow the parts to move freely.
We work with detoxification - getting rid of chemicals, allergens, heavy metals and toxic emotions, to allow the body to function normally, without being weight down by things which it no longer needs, cleaning up the carburetors.
We work with attitude - we tend to get back what we project, so let’s make sure we are projecting love and healing. That would be the basis of the golden rule. If our tailpipe puts out smoke and bad smells, these will almost certainly come back at us through our open windows. Structure is crucial to our function, and cholesterol is crucial to our structure.
As with so many other things, balance is essential to our existence.
We do not believe that anyone ever died of a deficiency of lovastatin. We do believe that diet and exercise are the best treatment to prevent heart disease and promote a healthy life.
The choice is ours.
[1] http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/…ucm082054.htm [2] http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america#national
“People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers.”
And the battle rages on... and on... and on.
The Lancet just published an article with the title “Statins for all by the age of 50 years?”
How do we deal with the issue at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine?
We work with diet - healthy real food, meats, fish, fruits and vegetables - healthy fats – fish oils, coconut oils, olive oil, butter - healthy drinks - no artificial sweeteners (except Stevia, which so far does not seem to have a down-side).
We work with nutrition - adequate vitamins and minerals, through diet or supplementation, to give the engine sufficient gas to allow it to run.
We work with exercise - enough fresh air and moving around to get the blood flowing, giving the engine sufficient lubrication to allow the parts to move freely.
We work with detoxification - getting rid of chemicals, allergens, heavy metals and toxic emotions, to allow the body to function normally, without being weight down by things which it no longer needs, cleaning up the carburetors.
We work with attitude - we tend to get back what we project, so let’s make sure we are projecting love and healing. That would be the basis of the golden rule. If our tailpipe puts out smoke and bad smells, these will almost certainly come back at us through our open windows. Structure is crucial to our function, and cholesterol is crucial to our structure.
As with so many other things, balance is essential to our existence.
We do not believe that anyone ever died of a deficiency of lovastatin. We do believe that diet and exercise are the best treatment to prevent heart disease and promote a healthy life.
The choice is ours.